


A Smile For The Boy (The Storytelling Remix)

by Estirose



Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 02:12:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1533809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Big Bird's friend Mr. Arnold has some memories to share about Mr. Hooper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Smile For The Boy (The Storytelling Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Never Rebel So Much](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12103) by [Mara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/pseuds/Mara). 



Big Bird saw the old man, Mr. Arnold, walk down the street with his cane. Mr. Arnold hadn't been to Sesame Street for a long time, and it gave Big Bird some relief that he was there that day. Big Bird was sometimes afraid that people as old as Mr. Hooper would die like Mr. Hooper did. Mr. Arnold didn't show up too often, but he'd sometimes played checkers with Mr. Hooper when he visited, and Big Bird knew that Mr. Arnold was about the same age.

"Hi, Mr. Arnold!" he exclaimed, and the old man looked up.

"Hello, Big Bird," the old man said, and there was a smile on his face. He didn't come often, but Mr. Hooper always was happy when Mr. Arnold was there. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay." He thought of the birdseed milkshake David had made for him earlier that day, and how it wasn't quite like how Mr. Hooper had made it for him. But David tried his best to keep Mr. Hooper's memory alive. He talked about his friend - a friend to all of them, really - a lot, even if it had been a while since Mr. Hooper had died. "How are you doing, Mr. Arnold? I haven't seen you in a while!"

"I'm doing good." Mr. Arnold smiled brilliantly up at him. "I came to be here and to remember Harold with some friends around the neighborhood. We grew up together, after all, he and I...."

Big Bird hadn't known that, but he thought about Mr. Hooper being a boy and Mr. Arnold playing games with him.

"Hey, we can remember him together!" Big Bird proclaimed. "Since you're here."

"Sure, Big Bird. Here, let's find someplace for me to sit. I'm not getting any younger." There was a chuckle in there. "Harold was always in better shape than me anyway."

Big Bird nodded, and led Mr. Arnold to where he could sit down.

"Harold and I grew up in the same general neighborhood," Mr. Arnold said. "His parents were shopkeepers, you know, they had this little grocery store a few blocks from where I lived."

"So, Mr. Hooper's parents had a store like his?" Big Bird asked.

"Yes - a very small store, like his. They had such big hearts, though. My mother told me that he and I met when she went to the store and we took to each other instantly. And did all the hair-raising things young boys did. My mother used to tell me stories all the time, you see."

Big Bird sat entranced. "What was he like as a boy?"

"He was smart and got really good grades in school. We were in different schools, but my mother always told me that I should get good grades like the Hooper boy. He was reliable too. My mother despaired over me a lot, but she absolutely adored him." Mr. Arnold closed his eyes, but the smile never left his face. "He was a really good friend to me, though."

"He was a really good friend to me, too." Big Bird thought about what Mr. Arnold was saying. "Did he help you when you had nightmares?"

Mr. Arnold was quiet for a moment, and then answered. "Not really. We stayed over at each other's houses a few times, but we never had nightmares. Most people weren't as close as the people on Sesame Street are."

"Oh. I guess I was special." Big Bird ducked his head a little.

"You are very special!" Mr. Arnold was smiling again. "Anyway, we spent a lot of time together until we were grown up - we were the best of friends. Even if we didn't always celebrate the same things because were were different religions, we were there for each other."

"That's right! Mr. Hooper was Jewish." He remembered that Mr. Hooper lit a menorah instead of celebrating Christmas like the rest of Sesame Street.

"Yes. Harold was Jewish - his parents had immigrated from the Netherlands, while my family was a kind of Christian and been there for hundreds of years. His folks always wanted the best for their kids, and my mother hoped I'd learn a thing or two from them."

A lot of what Mr. Arnold was saying went over Big Bird's head, but he didn't say anything, because Mr. Arnold was telling a story about Mr. Hooper.

"If it hadn't been for Harold's parents, I would never have gone to medical school." He leaned on his cane, as if it would help him remember. "And he never even finished high school."

"Why not?" Big Bird asked. He was sure that every adult he knew said something about how important it was to do that.

"Harold always wanted to be like his parents and be a shopkeeper. If he finished high school, they'd make him become a doctor or a lawyer, and he didn't want that. They yelled at him a lot about it, I remember."

"Oh." Big Bird didn't know what to say. He'd come here so that he could be a shopkeeper in the neighborhood?

"His mother tried telling him that he should become a doctor because his grades were so good! And his father thought he should become a lawyer because he was so good at talking to people." The smile was back. "And then I was the one who became the doctor. His family was very proud of me and very disappointed with him."

"So, you're Doctor Arnold?" Big Bird asked. He hadn't realized Mr. Arnold was a doctor like the ones he sometimes saw!

"Not today. Today, I am just Jonathan, friend of Harold. That's all that matters. I've come here to honor my friend, who truly loved every moment of being a shopkeeper. Or at least almost every moment."

"He really didn't like it when I called him Mr Looper," Big Bird admitted.

"I remember him telling me about that! He liked you very much, you know. I think he considered you one of his kids. You meant a lot to him."

"Really?" Big Bird hadn't thought about how he might be part of Mr. Hooper's stories, just like Mr. Hooper had told him plenty of them.

"Yes. I know his parents were so disappointed with him for being a shopkeeper, but I know why he did it. He loved everybody on Sesame Street."

"Like me." It made him feel better, a little, that Mr. Arnold was also there to tell stories and to remember Mr. Hooper. He hoped Mr. Arnold would be there a long time!

"Yes." Mr. Arnold nodded briefly, and then looked up at him. "And I believe you have stories of your own to tell me!"

"Yes, I do!" And with Mr. Arnold sitting there, Big Bird started to tell him about the time he tried to teach Mr. Hooper to roller skate, and how fun that had been, and Mr. Arnold listened to it all with the everlasting smile on his face.


End file.
